Too much time at the Airport

Hello again from La Republica Dominicana. I just got through looking at the weather forecast for this week. Today it was 88* with 80% humidity. Typical for this time of year. On Wednesday it will be 92* and 100% humidity. This explains why when we travel into the Barrios and Campo everyone is outside of their homes sitting, talking, dancing, playing (dominoes, the national board game) and just visiting. Homes are usually not air conditioned, so outside is way more pleasant. It's really fun to drive or walk around a community and see everyone interacting with each other.

This week was a week of airport visits and goodbyes. Hermana Pajares who's group left in June got to fly home to Peru. She had to stay due to an eye infection. Her treatment included 3 surgeries that last one was an emergency cornea transplant. Her infection was so bad that she would have lost her eye without the transplant. They didn't even take the time to find a match. They will do the surgery in Peru with a good match. She has been patient and positive through this whole experience.

We made a trip to the airport with a couple of missionaries that are from La Republica Dominicana but had to wait here while their visas to Brazil were processed. They started their 12 week training program without an MTC. They will go to the MTC in Brazil and learn Portuguese before they resume their training as new missionaries. They are both going to be really good missionaries. They have a real love for the work.

We took two additional trips to the airport but one was a mistake. The airport is about 30 minutes away (depending on driving skill not driving conditions). We were asked to pickup a missionary (Elder Valdez) that is returning to a small town in our mission that is in a branch that is in a district. His family could not come into the Capitol (this is what everyone call Santo Domingo, it's just easier). President Santos presides over the districts so he extends the releases to missionaries returning to the districts. Our first visit to the airport resulted in us finding out that the plane was delayed 2 hours. We will always look for delays in the future. We decided to take Hermana Borup back to the office where she could get some work done and I would return to pick up Elder Valdez. What a privileged to pickup a faithful returning missionary. Their was an amazing feeling of peace and confidence. I brought him to the mission office with his name tag on and after President Santos released him I took to the bus stop with his name tag off.

Hermana Borup and I were able to go for a bike ride this week. It's been too long not being on something with two wheels. We just did a little ride to the park where there is a 5 k road that is closed to traffic in the mornings. We just went back and forth for an hour and some. It sounds boring I know but for us it was a slice of heaven. We also found that it is a great way to meet people. There were 75 to 100 people riding back and forth with us. some in pelatons some as solo. We found them to be a captive audience. They could try to ride away but we could just get in their draft and go along with them. We actually made some good contacts.

Later on Saturday we went to the beach with our Spanish teachers the Parez family. We tried to go to a local beach in the city called Play Guibia. we learnded why no one goes to the beach in the city. There is a large port near by that is the mouth of a river. Whenever it rains (almost everyday) debris is washed into the port from the river. The ocean currents then push the debris onto the beach. We ended up driving to our now favorite beach which is about 50 minutes East called Juan Dolio. It was a really nice change of pace and we were fellow shipping new members. (two for the price of one).

Spanish lessons went well again this week. We proved once again a very fined tuned skill of getting our Spainsh teachers to talk to us in English. We are really really good at this. I am trying to think of some future value for this well perfected skill. Little by little I think we are learning. We went to a District Conference meeting today and we felt like we were able to pickup a little more. We remain optimistic however. But we do fill limited in our ability to serve with out more understanding of the language.

I got a chance to give some Elders a ride to their area from the office. They needed to stop at a Western union on the way. As the Elder did business with the teller he started conversation about the gospel. The clerk seemed very interested but the Elder did not have any literature to give him. I saw that and I always carry pamphlets with me. I quickly was able to do my part. It just feels good to share with others the things we hold dear. I don't know what will happen with the teller but I do know he had an opportunity to feel a little more light because a representative of Christ opened his mouth.

We can't wait to see what this next week brings to us. We know it will be exciting and we know it won't be routine.

Your friends

Hermana and Elder Borup